If you carve two inch-thick planks from a cauliflower's middle, not only do these cross-sections hold together much better than you'd think, they look like a tree! A beautiful little oak you can fry up like a steak and eat.

There are plenty of cauliflower steaks out there on the internet, but I'm partial to this recipe from farm-to-table genius Dan Barber -- true to his mission, it's the fullest celebration of cauliflower's talents.

He sears the steaks in a little vegetable oil, salt, and pepper and finishes roasting them in the oven, which gives them a deep brown crust. The remains of the cauliflower becomes florets that are simmered till soft in water and milk, then blitzed into a weightless white cloud.

He uses every part of the buffalo, as they say, and adds almost nothing to distract you. The cauliflower's sweet, subtle flavors are unobscured; its textures are at their best. He brings together the nutty crisped edges you get from roasting, and the unearthly creaminess of a purée (remember, whipping up cauliflower's natural pectin turns it creamy even without dairy).

Of course, you could just make one part of this recipe or the other. If you wanted to stick with the steaks and top them with olive relish or gremolata, I for one have no problem keeping a tupperware of squeaky florets in the fridge for a satisfyingly punishing snack.

But there is something deeply appealing about slashing through your slab of cauliflower, and plunging it into the downy bed of puree -- like a chicken-fried steak surrendering to its cream gravy.

I'm an ex-economist, ex-Californian who moved to New York to work in food media in 2007. Dodgy career choices aside, I can't help but apply the rational tendencies of my former life to things like: recipe tweaking, digging up obscure facts about pizza, and deciding how many pastries to put in my purse for "later."

i made this the other night and it was so easy and good. had to grill the cauliflower longer than 2 minutes, and used almond milk in the puree. had other ideas to make pineapple steaks over yogurt/fruit puree and acorn squash grilled rings over squash puree. great recipe!

I thought this sounded beautiful but bland. So I found a recipe on your website for Indianish mint sambal with cauliflower. I used the sambal recipe with this cauliflower recipe and it was delicious and beautiful. I made it a full meal by cooking some chard and roasting some chick peas in the oven as I prepared the cauliflower. The greens looked pretty with the white and the chick peas added some crunch and protein.

This version of roasted cauliflower truly is genius. The combo of the creamy puree with the crispy cauliflower "steak" was perfection. I took it to the next level of deliciousness and topped it with a fried egg!

The brilliance of this recipe is the puree, not the steak. I did the Dan Barber pure version, and liked it. The leftover puree will be the base of mac and cheese. But necx time, I'm cutting loose and stirring red pepper, butter and parm into that divine puree.

I never cared for cauliflower until I found a similar recipe not too long ago. Now it's become a staple. The "steaks" also make a great sandwich filling: slide one into a pita pocket, add some hummus and greens -- delicious.

I more than adore cauliflower. My husband cares for very few vegamals, as I like to call them. I will in any given week steam 2-3 heads at a time and eat cauliflower morning noon and night. About 10 years ago while watching Dennis Miller on HBO, he had a guest chef, Bob Blumer - Surreal Gourmet Bites, who roasted cauliflower. HOLY COW, my steamed cauliflower became roasted and my husband will actually eat it roasted. all the sugars caramelize and the edges get toasty and crisp. I use only a bit of canola or nut oil ( I can not have olive products, sigh) and a little salt or a bit of creole seasoning. Sometimes I add friends to the roasting pan, brussel sprouts, fennel, shallots, etc. Why I never translated that to the stove top is beyond me but cauliflower as a steak sounds beyond fabulous to me. Can't wait to try it out but I just roasted two head yesterday so for the next couple of days I will have to simply dream. Thank you once again for a divine vegamal recipe. You guys make my heart sing int he kitchen!

Just makes me happy saying vegamals! OF course I do get accused of anthropomorphizing too much in life, our dogs, the food we eat, furniture... But I think it makes me happy to give life and qualities to things that lack it, so what, right?

I had a version of this at Daniel Humm's Nomad, but it was a cross-section of broccoli. Some of the florets had been fried or marinated or dehydrated and were then reassembled. Amazing! Can't wait to try this somewhat easier version...

This looks amazing. A restaurant I went to years ago used to serve a cauliflower steak with a caper raisin relish. The contrast between the tangy relish and the roasted cauliflower was really fantastic.

Love the roasted cauliflower steaks. But, seems a lot of liquid to puree the rest. I generally steam cauliflower when I plan to puree it, just to keep the liquid at a minimum. Otherwise, I find the puree can get too mushy/runny. A Tlbs. or 2 if needed of warm cream can go a long way. And I like to addition of cumin. Great idea.

Thanks for bringing this up Kathy S. You only reserve some of the liquid for pureeing, but, to your point, Dan Barber's original version actually called for drying the cooked florets in the oven for 10 minutes at 250F as well. I didn't love cleaning the baking sheet after that, so I tried pureeing with 3/4 the liquid instead and still loved the results. Hence, the very slightly adapted recipe!

Top rate recipe, although I made mine with almond milk. My wife dislikes cauliflower but thoroughly enjoyed this take on it. Said it was the best cauliflower she'd ever had. Thanks for posting the recipe.